Shimla : Congress's state Mahila Congress president Zainab Chandel on Wednesday claimed women were not safe in the state under BJP rule. Addressing a public meeting in Shimla ahead of the Assembly elections, on Wednesday, Chandel alleged that criminals have been emboldened on the watch of the BJP government, to the extent that they no longer spare minor girls.
Citing a recent case at Kullu in Manali district where a two-year-old girl was allegedly brutalised after being abducted, Chandel said, "There have been similar incidents across the state in the recent past and the police and the administration only remained a mute spectator. It is unfortunate and sad that not a single word on these incidents has been uttered by the state BJP leadership or the central government, which boast of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao'."
She added that even in the recent incident of a college girl, who was found dead at Rampur in Shimla district, the hands of the administration seem to be tied as no breakthrough has yet been made in connection with the case. "Criminals are committing murders in broad daylight and the police administration does not have a clue. There has been a rise in such incidents across the state and the BJP leaders are tight-lipped about them. Not just in Himachal Pradesh, even in other BJP-ruled states such as Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, incidents of crime against women are rising with every passing day," she added.
Citing recent incidents to support her claim on the decline of law and order in BJP-ruled states, Chandel said, "In the murder of a woman (a receptionist) at a Uttarakhand resort, the name of a BJP leader's son came to the fore. The BJP government brought an earth-moving machine to destroy evidence on the resort premises."
She claimed that while the BJP government in Himachal contested the last Assembly election on the promise of ensuring women's safety and opening the 'Gudiya' helpline, "the sad part is that the complaints registered through the helpline have not been addressed".
"As many as 8,500 complaints were registered on the helpline but none was addressed. The BJP claims sympathy for women but it is nothing but a ploy to attract their votes. The reality is that under the BJP government, incidents of crime have only gone up. The government is only sitting on its hands," Chandel said.
While the Congress leader hit out at the BJP government over the alleged decline in law and order, Union minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday claimed that before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, the rural poor of Himachal had no permanent shelter over their heads, defecated in open and also did not have bank accounts.